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Waiting to sneak in was painful, in more ways than one. Charlie watched the guards, trying to find a pattern in the movement that would allow her to sneak into the castle, and memorize patterns so she could get out with her treasure. It was not going to be easy. She needed every edge she could get, and knowing how the guards moved would give her one.
Unfortunately, crouching there was starting to really cramp her legs. There was only so much wiggling she could do without drawing attention. It was getting close to the point where she might as well go, because if she stayed too much longer, there was no way she’d be able to go any longer.
As she was starting to think that, she noticed a break coming up. She knew that guard. That was Kevin. He was a good guy, forced to work for the dark lord Crowley who had his mother held captive. It was worth the risk. She crept up until she could get his attention. “Kevin!”
“Charlie. There you are. Do you know how hard I’ve had to work to get this shift by myself? I was gonna be seriously annoyed if I went to all this trouble and you couldn’t even be bothered to show up.” Kevin held out keys, just out of her reach. “I’ll help you get Jo, but you have to help me get Mom.”
“Done.” Charlie snatched the keys. “What do you need me to do?”
“I’ll get Jo. They won’t let me into the basement where they’ve got my mom. Those keys will get you in. Drop them on the way out, they’re Gerald’s, Gerald doesn’t even know they’re missing yet. It’ll buy us time while we escape and they haven’t figured out I’m gone yet.” Kevin gave Jo directions to the basement. “Once you’ve got Mom, see if you can get her a weapon or something. She’ll kick anyone’s ass once she knows mine’s on the line. It’ll make it easier to get out of here. Can Jo fight?”
“You kidding? I met Jo when I came to town and everyone warned me about the weird girl with the knife collection.” Charlie smiled fondly at the memories. “She knows how to use them, too. If you can get her a knife, she can fight her way out. If she hadn’t been drugged, they’d never have taken her in.”
“Great. Let’s go.” Kevin took off one way, Charlie the other.
Finding Linda Tran was no problem. She was exactly where Kevin said she’d be, and Jo had no trouble undoing the shackles around her ankles, freeing her from the chain that kept her from taking long enough steps to run. She started to take the shackles from Linda’s wrists, but Linda shook her head. “Once we’re out of here, fine, but until then…” She smiled wickedly. “Useful for clubbing. Now. You’re clearly here to rescue me, but who are you, and what makes you think I’ll leave with you?”
“My name’s Charlie Bradbury, and I think you’ll come with me because if you don’t, all four of us end up screwed.”
“I can count to four, and unless you’re hiding two other people up your ass, we’re not four.”
“No, I’m one, you’re two, my girlfriend Jo is three, and Kevin makes four. He gave me the keys to get you out, while he gets Jo from Lord Crowley’s chambers.” Charlie handed Linda one of the knives she’d hidden in her clothes, the one she’d intended to give Jo. “If you don’t come with me to meet Kevin, he helped me for nothing, and might decide to throw himself on Crowley’s mercy by turning me and Jo in so we both end up as slaves here along with you. You’re being held to keep Kevin in line, so chances are, Crowley makes things worse for you too.”
Linda’s eyes gleamed. “Well then. Let’s get out of here. I’m proud of my boy. You wouldn’t be mad at him?”
“Of course I’d be mad at him! I’d be furious! I’d just do the same thing if I were in his shoes and he showed up without Jo.” Charlie turned and led the way out.
Getting out with Linda was easy – only one guard tried to stop them and Linda silenced him quickly. Waiting at the rendezvous point was much harder. They finally spotted Kevin and Jo running toward them, three guards behind them. Neither woman hesitated, jumping into action to take out the guards.
Kevin stopped them after two guards were down, grabbing Jo’s arm as she started to cut the third guard’s throat. “Don’t kill her. She hates Crowley as much as we do.”
“Yeah, well, this bitch is the one who tried to kill me in the fight where I was taken, so you’ll forgive me if I want a little revenge.” Jo smacked Kevin’s hand off her.
The guard, a dark-haired woman, smirked up at them. “I was trying to spare you the horrors that Crowley usually has in store for the pretty young girls he abducts. Had no idea you had a girl on the outside who’d be coming for you with the chance to get to you before Crowley had the chance to get to you.”
Jo rolled her eyes. “Right, so altruistic of you. If you care so much about me, why were you chasing me?”
“I saw an opportunity to get away from Crowley, and I took it. Help me out here. Strip the other two.” The guard started removing her armor. Kevin grabbed one of the guards and got to work on his, while Linda handled the third. Jo and Charlie exchanged a glance, but figured they might as well help. Once the armor was piled up, the surviving guard took her sword and hacked the guards’ bodies into pieces, and then piled them up and set them on fire. “There. Crowley’s smart, he’ll notice I’m missing, but while he’ll probably have a feeling that Kevin and I aren’t in the pile of bones and ashes here, he won’t be able to prove it. It’ll set up some doubt. I’m free, you guys are free, there’s enough confusion that we have a chance to stay that way.” She waved. “I’m heading off to find my unicorn.”
“You might as well come with me and Mom,” Kevin offered. “We’re headed for my friends in Kansas, and you know if your unicorn’s not there they’ll be able to point you in the right direction.”
“Unless Dean kills me on sight, he kinda hates me, but if I catch Sam in a reasonable mood…” She nodded. “Okay. Let’s go. Nice meeting you two, sorry about the trying to kill you thing.”
Charlie pulled Jo into a tight hug as soon as the others were gone. “I was so worried! Are you okay?”
“I’m fine. Like Meg said, Crowley was too busy to bother much with me.” Jo held up her left arm. “Worst part was that they never bothered to take the handcuffs off, so doing anything was difficult.”
“Why are they still half on?” Charlie grabbed the cuff that remained around Jo’s left wrist. “Kevin couldn’t take the time to free you properly?”
“Oh, he would have, but I stopped him.” Jo winked. “I thought you and I could have some fun with them during the celebration. Didn’t want to lose them. I could pick the lock if I dropped the key, which I didn’t.” She pulled it out of a pocket. “Take me home, babe.”